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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Is there a cookie in the world that is more universally loved than the oreo? I dare you to find one. So what if you combined the beloved oreo with a classic flavor combination - red velvet? You will end up with one awesome cookie.

I honestly don't know where I thought of this. I'd been wanting to make red velvet cookies, but most of the recipes started with a box of cake mix, and I don't really like to bake out of the box. So I was just driving down the road, thinking about cooking and food (as usual), and the idea hit me like a ton of bricks. Red. Velvet. Oreos. With cream cheese filling, of course. To me, red velvet is characterized by a light chocolate taste, a bit of tang/sourness from buttermilk, and of course the red color. I've had a recipe for homemade oreos saved for months, so I figured I could just adapt it to my liking. Of course I added some red food coloring and decreased the chocolate, but I was stumped a bit when it came to the buttermilk. Should I just add vinegar? Add a few tablespoons of buttermilk and hope it didn't affect the chemistry of the cookie? And then I had another idea: buttermilk powder. Many people keep it on hand so they don't have to worry about buttermilk going bad. Just like powdered milk, you just add water to the powder. But since powdered milk is often used in baked goods, I figures why not try buttermilk powder? And it worked! These cookies are slightly chocolately with that characteristic buttermilky tang. Fill them with cream cheese icing and you have one addicting cookie.

Now that the Super Bowl is over and it's time to start thinking about Valentine's Day, you should definitely consider these cookies as a strong possibility for a festive dessert. They would be so fun to send in with you child to school, or just for dessert or a special snack. They are literally mixed up in minutes, and before you know it you'll be snacking on your new favorite cookie.

These came out a little bit larger than I'd expected, so I've adjusted the instructions below. I found buttermilk powder at my local Super Target, but I'm sure it's also available at most well-stocked grocery stores.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

In a food processor or the bowl of an
electric mixer, combine the flour, cocoa powder, buttermilk powder, baking soda, baking
powder, salt, and sugar. Pulse a few times to combine. Cut the butter into tablespoon size pieces, and add them to the
bowl and pulse or mix briefly to incorporate. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and stir in the food coloring. Pour into the mixture and pulse or mix until a cohesive mass forms.

Scoop about 2 teaspoons of batter onto
the baking sheet. Continue scooping, spacing the dough balls a couple
of inches apart. With moistened fingers, gently press down on the dough
balls to flatten slightly. Bake for 9-11 minutes, rotating the pans
halfway through baking. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheet.

To make the filling, combine the butter
and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high
speed until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar and salt to the bowl and mix on
low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to
medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

To assemble the cookies, match them up by
size. Use a pastry bag fitted with a round tip to pipe a swirl of
filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair. Sandwich
together with the remaining cookie and press down so that the filling
reaches the edges.

I love that you used buttermilk powder! I made red velvet cookies awhile back and wish I had tried to add buttermilk powder to them because something was missing for sure. And these are even more amazing due to being oreos!

Mmm, I bet a crunchy red velvet cookie similar to the crunchy chocolate oreo cookies tastes amazing! You had an awesome idea with these ones, major props!*sigh* :( I'm going to miss all the awesome yumminess being baked on this blog, but in 3 months' time when I get back from my trip, I will have so much fun catching up on everything! Looking forward to some delicious treats! Until then--happy baking!

I saw buttermilk powder on the king arthur flour website. I love that place! These look amazing and I've been looking for good valentine's day recipes to help celebrate the day with the kiddos. Thanks for the yummy idea!

These cookies were fantastic!! I doubled the recipe and made over 50 of them tonight for the office for valentine's day... I'm sure they will be a hit, because I am going to have to go to sleep to keep myself from eating them ALL! :)

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